ONLY 10 PERCENT OF HIKERS LIKELY TO FINISH TRAIL

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 8, 1993                   TAG: 9303080771
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
ONLY 10 PERCENT OF HIKERS LIKELY TO FINISH TRAIL
The Appalachian Trail, a long strip of outdoor America that follows the crest of ridges from Georgia to Maine, is expected to attract 2,000 would-be through-hikers this year. Only about 200 will complete the laborious 2,100-plus mile journey, predicted Brian King, a spokesman for the Appalachian Trail Conference.
Many of the hikers will begin their trek this month, embarking from Springer Mountain, Ga., with the idea of following spring into Virginia, then summer through Pennsylvania and New England, reaching Mount Katahdin, Maine, when fall begins to color the high country.
"Some have been out three weeks already," said King, who paused to add, "I just hope they know about snow."
Even when the calendar says April, freakish mountain snow storms, plunging temperatures and cold rain can dash much of the romanticism associated with the venture, sending people home before they reach the western edge of Virginia.
Here are facts for the adventurous:
MIDDLE-AGED SPREAD: Through-hikers will have 3.7-more miles to tread this year than last year's super achievers, according to the trail conference, headquartered in Harpers Ferry, W. Va.
No, the starting and finishing points haven't changed. What's happening, the trail has been spreading slightly in the middle during recent years as trail workers relocate sections to newly acquired or more suitable land.
One of the relocations under way is being conducted by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club at Fulhardt Knob, north of Daleville.
The latest calculation by the conference shows the trail to be exactly 2,146.6 miles.
Since that figure doesn't have much poetic flair, "We still find it equitable to round off all through-hikers as 2,000-milers," said Judy Jenner, editor the the Appalachian Trailway News, a conference publication.
BIRTHDAY YEAR: The National Trails System Act, which gave the Appalachian Trail its official protection, turns 25 this year, a fact that will be celebrated by trail lovers.
By the end of the 1992 federal fiscal year, only 50 miles of the trail remained to be protected by federal and state agencies, reported Donald King, chief of the trails land acquisitions field office for the National Park Service.
That leaves about 678 tracts encompassing 20,141 acres yet to be acquired, King said.
READ MY SHIRT: For through-hikers who tire of answering the same questions along their journey, the trail conference is selling an answer shirt designed by 2,000-miler Carol Moore. Printed on the shirt:
The Official AT Answer Shirt
1 15-20 miles a day
2 Yes, I've seen bears
3 Mac and cheese
4 50 pounds or so
5 In a tent
6 4-6 months over 2,000 miles
7 Yes: I walked here
THE SEEDY SIDE: The Appalachian Trail Conference is asking its members to help it address the issue of trail security in an effort to deter crime along the famous pathway.
Among the proposals that have surfaced:
The registration of hikers, especially through-hikers, by the conference with a fee charged to handle this work.
Official ID cards so certified hikers would be able to recognize other certified hikers and presumable feel more comfortable at shelters.
Posters at shelters and trailheads to identify emergency agencies in the area.
Back country rangers.
An all-year, all-hours central emergency telephone service.
An expansion of the personnel, called ridgerunners, who are assigned to high-use areas, such as McAfee Knob in Roanoke County.
The conference is quick to point out that statistically the trail is safer than the highway, even safer than your home.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB